{"id":403808,"date":"2024-01-19T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=403808"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Kilili-won-t-seek-9th-term-as-delegate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Kilili-won-t-seek-9th-term-as-delegate\/","title":{"rendered":"Kilili won\u2019t seek 9th term as delegate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) announced yesterday that he will not be seeking a ninth term as the CNMI\u2019s delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives this November election.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy love for the Marianas remains strong. But the time has come to pass this responsibility to a new representative the people will elect this November,\u201d said Sablan, who is turning 69 years old today, Friday.<\/p>\n

In his public announcement yesterday, he thanked the people of the CNMI for giving him what he called \u201cthe extraordinary opportunity and most humbling responsibility\u201d of being their voice for over almost 16 years as their representative in the U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n

Sablan became the CNMI\u2019s first elected delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. He is currently serving his eighth term.<\/p>\n

He said this decision not to seek re-election comes after deep personal examination and consultation with his wife, Andrea, his loved ones, and supporters.<\/p>\n

The delegate said it is not because he has accomplished everything he wanted for the people of the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work is far from done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sablan said he will leave Congress believing he has been able to establish the Northern Mariana Islands as a respected member of the American political family.<\/p>\n

He recounted that when, as a young man he stood in the U.S. Capitol in 1986 and promised himself he would strive to be elected if the Marianas ever had a place in the institution, he never imagined he would be the CNMI\u2019s first representative or be able to serve so long.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of the Marianas gave me this singular honor. I believe I have served you well. And I will be forever grateful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With Sablan\u2019s decision not to seek re-election, more candidates are expected to run for the delegate\u2019s position this November.<\/p>\n

During his eight terms in Congress, either he ran unopposed or won through overwhelming votes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP), right, met with Gov. Arnold Palacios and Commonwealth Ports Authority board chair Joe Ayuyu, left, at his congressional office in Washington, D.C. last week. Sablan yesterday announced that he will not be seeking a ninth term as the CNMI\u2019s delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

-OFFICE OF DELEGATE GREGORIO KILILI C. SABLAN
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Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) announced yesterday that he will not be seeking a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}